Hello everybody!
This is my first post here, Corroboree the second foreign enthobotanical cummunity I attend. I havne't read much of the forum, but I liked the 'air' and quality of it.
I chose to re-enlive an old thread for the sake of info exchange and of giving hints to the future researchers.
COLEUS BLUMEI
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First of all, where has the 'rumour' started off? I believe it is the refference from the classic book Plants of the gods.
In there it is stated that the Mazatecs considered Coleus blumei as the child [el nene] or goschild [el ahijado] in their sage taxonomy, where Salvia divinorum was the mother [el hembra] . It is also mentioned that Coleus blumei was used in the same way as S.divinorum [chewing/quidding]. There is also mention to Coleus pumilus [the father, el macho] {page 165}
In the front botanical index of the book {page 39}, it is also stated that diterpenes have been found in the Coleus species of interest, propably leading to popular belief that the active agents in Coleus might be diterpenes.
Note that no 'direct' indication of psychoactivity is reported apart from the fact that the natives consumed the fresh leaves. Coleus forskolii is often mistaken for these two Coleus spp. C.forskolli seems to to be used medicinal and sought after the substance forskolin, but that's not our case here.
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Now on to the net facts. Some people do have confirned the psychoactivity of certain Coleus blumei strains, me and some friends being among them. Smoking plain leaf material [a couple of leaves] seems to have mild psychedelic effects on some individuals, while others report a mild psylocybin action ingesting 100-120 freshly picked leaves [various positive reports on the net]. Needless to say, other dismiss any action, maybe ignoring that Coleus blumei is a vastly hybridized species.
I was given such a plant - it remarkably resembles the plant depicted in Plants of the gods and is propagated very easily with cuttings. It has differences from some 'Coleus blumei' I have seen both online and in my area, used ornamentally. I also believe that the Coleus depicted here in apothecary's post is largely different than the interesting one morphologically.
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The amount of 100 leaves eaten hasn't yet been determined as being posititve, but my friend Swim, who happens to be an avid MJ smoker, has positively determined obvious synergistic effect with coleus leaves + MJ and even reported to have worked positively of a bad "sleepy" batch of MJ. The coleus leaves sustituting half of tobacco smoke made the joints much more euphoric, stimulating effect for that particular strong but sleepy batch. He has had mild but always positive results.
What I want to say, is that for someone to experiment with Coleus, he must first find the right Coleus. I believe I do and I personally am convinced for this plant's psychoactivity. I will report more if the oral way is used.
IDENTIFICATION
I will also post two links to suggest which plant is more identical to mine and that depicted in the aforementioned book.
http://www.plantoftheweek.org/week249.shtml
This first one is not the interesting one. The colours are more dull. greens are dull, reds also. I have seen such plants to develop a crawling habit, branches growing also horizontaly. Also, some stems are not plain green, but sometimes in darker colours like purplish.
http://www.linnaeus.nu/Bibliotek/vaxt.asp?idnr=260
now this is more likely to be the one. The colours are bright, greens are light and bold , reds bright . Here , the new growth is developing only vertically and the stems are light green. The original Coleus blumei can be quite a high plant.
Feel free to ask questions ! Glad to be here
